The pack is made out of the TPU coated dyneema woven fabric from RSBTR (venom). It has a frame, is 60 liters and weighs 2 lbs. (907 grams). It has compartments for tent, water bladder, quilt/pad, Bear Vault 500, clothes and now a DIY packraft. I have your Skeena and Ultralight and either of them will fit in top compartment. The Advanced Elements ultra light paddle works great for lake paddling. The pack fits into the dry bag, and I have added side release buckles and straps to the bow of my rafts, so I can quickly and securely snap my pack to the rafts. The Flextail Tiny Pump fills both the Skeena and Ultra light in about 5 minutes. Top them off with a few breaths and they are good to go.
As far a ripping a hole in the ultra-light, it was a long shallow lake with avalanche knocked down trees in it. I knew they were there, but the sun angle was wrong, and I couldn’t see anything below the surface and missed seeing one. Just tore a hole in the bottom not the air bladders. Just got my butt wet. As far as your suggestion to piece together scrap pieces, I checked what I had and figured I would wait until I can get a full-sized piece of the 450 bottom material. Being not as limber and flexible as my younger days, I find it is best for me to launch with seat right at the shoreline and the front out in the lake and push off. The idea is to just reinforce the seat area that takes the abrasion from launches and is the most likely area to catch a sharp object under the surface.
Thanks again for putting the R and D into these designs and making them available. Also thanks for making the TPU fabric available again. I think you did the right thing limiting the orders of large quantities as those are most likely the people that are going to use your engineered material to compete with you.
